TheNewsGuru

Tag: US

  • U.S. offers $10m for information on election intruders

    U.S. offers $10m for information on election intruders

    The United States has announced a 10-million-dollar (N3.8 billion) reward for information on foreign interference in its elections.

    The Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, announced the offer in a statement on Wednesday.

    The move is targeting foreign government agents seeking to compromise the country’s federal, state or local election elections through cyber attacks.

    Allegations of foreign interference, especially by Russia, in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections had been a big political issue in the country.

    In 2019, then Special Counsel, Mr Robert Mueller, launched a lengthy investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the elections in favour of President Donald Trump.

    Trump strongly denied colluding with the Russians, and dismissed the Muller probe as the product of a fake dossier paid for by the Democratic Party.

    In his 448-page report, Mueller said it did not establish that the Trump campaign criminally conspired with Russia to influence the election.

    However, the report cited 10 instances where Trump allegedly attempted to impede the investigation, a claim the president also denied.

    In July, the Democratic Party’s candidate for the Nov. 3 election, Mr Joe Biden, said he received a security briefing on plans by the Russians to interfere again.

    Biden vowed a swift retaliation against any nation that attempts to meddle in the American democratic process.

  • Trump wants November US Presidential election postponed

    Trump wants November US Presidential election postponed

    The US President Donald Trump on Thursday raised the possibility of delaying the nation’s November presidential election despite its date being enshrined in the US Constitution, Reuters reports.

    Trump, without evidence, repeated his claims of mail-in voter fraud and raised the question of a delay, writing: “delay the election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

    Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Trump has cast doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, which have been used in far greater numbers in primary elections amid the coronavirus pandemic. He has also made unsubstantiated allegations that voting will be rigged and has refused to say he would accept official election results if he lost.

    Democrats, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, have already begun preparations to protect voters and the election amid fears that Trump will try to interfere with the November 3 election.

  • 100-day countdown for U.S. November 3 election begins

    100-day countdown for U.S. November 3 election begins

    Sunday marks the beginning of the 100-day countdown to the 2020 U.S. presidential election while the country is still trapped in the raging coronavirus pandemic and nationwide protests against racial discrimination and police brutality.

    With the clock ticking toward what may be the most complicated presidential contest in American history, both Democrats and Republicans are ramping up their push to get the keys to the Oval Office.

    Nevertheless, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the nation, protests over racial injustice in several U.S. cities turned violent over the weekend.

    Biden, left leads Trump in all polls

    MUTUAL ASSAULT

    Sitting president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, 74, didn’t mention the milestone directly on Sunday but lashed out at polls that have showed him falling behind his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, calling them “fake.”

    “The Trump Campaign has more ENTHUSIASM, according to many, than any campaign in the history of our great Country — Even more than 2016,” he tweeted before claiming that battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Texas, will not vote for Biden, a 77-year-old moderate political veteran who has recently adopted several progressive policy proposals.

    Biden, whose campaign is accelerating its staffing and television spending, tweeted “100 days” on Sunday.

    “Folks, we have just 100 days until Election Day. Now, more than ever, we have to do everything we can to make Donald Trump a one-term president,” he said.

    In the RealClearPolitics average of national polls, Biden leads Trump 50 percent to 40.9 percent as of Sunday.

    Meanwhile, polls conducted in some key battlegrounds, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Arizona, also showed that Biden is ahead of Trump by at least several points.In an AP-NORC poll released Sunday, eight in 10 Americans said that the United States is heading in the wrong direction, the highest level during Trump’s presidency, while only about a third of Americans approve of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Additionally, the majority of Americans have a negative view of how Trump is handling the economy, health care and education.

    “This is a very unpleasant real-time look at what the future could be for President Trump,” said Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at Quinnipiac University, after the Connecticut-based polling center released its latest survey earlier this month.

    Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, however, urged caution in using polls to make predictions, tweeting on Sunday that “numbers are sand castles not stone monuments.”

    Biden has seized the moment by sharply criticising Trump’s performance during the coronavirus pandemic as well as his ability to steer the country out of the crisis, while Trump has repeatedly questioned Biden’s cognitive health, accused him of being a “puppet” of what he called the “Radical Left,” and highlighted their ideological differences in a highly politically and socially divisive time.

    PANDEMIC IMPACT

    Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight, a U.S. website focusing on opinion poll analysis, politics and economics, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that the coronavirus is “an extra complication” in this year’s presidential election.

    More than 4.2 million people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus, with some 146,000 deaths, according to a dashboard run by Johns Hopkins University. The pandemic continues to surge across the country, especially in some populous states, amid an economic recession.

    “We found historically when there are lots of major news events and economic disruptions, an election becomes harder to predict,” Silver said.

    “So while he’s clearly in trouble, I do not buy that Trump’s fate is sealed,” he said. “A lot could change in the next one hundred days. Things could get worse still for the president. But a turnaround in the COVID situation by the fall could make the election more competitive.”

    The pandemic, which has plagued the United States for months, has forced the presidential and other campaigns to go virtual due to health and safety risks.

    The Republican and Democratic national conventions, both scheduled for August, where Trump and Biden will formally receive each party’s presidential nomination, will take place on a smaller scale.

    Trump, who has relied on campaigns to build momentum, had tried to restart in-person activities in June. But his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the first of its kind in more than three months, met with a lower-than-expected attendance and led to coronavirus infections among campaign staff and Secret Service agents. Biden has said he won’t hold rallies during the pandemic.

    Apart from the pandemic, the country has also been gripped by nationwide demonstrations against racial discrimination following the death of African American George Floyd in May.

    A total of 45 people were arrested and 21 police officers injured on Saturday after a protest in the western U.S. city of Seattle turned violent.

    In the Texas capital of Austin, a protester was shot dead by a person who drove through a crowd of marchers. In Aurora, Colorado, a protester fired a weapon, striking at least one person who was taken to a hospital, police said.

    ELECTION PROSPECTS

    As the general election approaches, three presidential debates between Trump and Biden are scheduled to take place between September and October. A vice-presidential debate between Trump’s deputy Mike Pence and whoever Biden chooses as his running mate will be held in early October.

    Biden, who is considering a broad tier of candidates to be his running mate after pledging to pick a woman for the job, has said that he will announce his pick in early August.

    Biden “holds a discernible — though not insurmountable — Electoral College advantage” over Trump, according to ABC News’ initial ratings for the 2020 general election which will be held on Nov. 3.

    The ratings place 279 electoral votes as either solidly or leaning Democratic — slightly more than the 270 electoral votes needed to secure the presidency. Another 72 electoral votes are rated as toss-ups, while 187 are either solidly or leaning Republican.

    In his race against Hillary Clinton in 2016, Trump secured 306 electoral votes, winning the presidency — in part — by taking longtime Democratic strongholds: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

    In addition to the Trump-Biden race, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested on Nov. 3, along with 13 state and territorial governorships, as well as numerous other state and local elections.

    In congressional races, Republicans will fight to defend their majority in the Senate, while Democrats are looking at expanding their seats in the House.

    Source: Xinhua

  • New wave of COVID-19 cases threatens US economic recovery – IMF

    New wave of COVID-19 cases threatens US economic recovery – IMF

    The dominant risk to the US economic recovery is a resurgence of COVID-19 cases that would force renewed business shutdowns, the International Monetary Fund warned Friday.

    The US government will need to do more in the coming months to provide support to households and boost demand, as well as address worsening poverty and the shortcomings of the US health system, the IMF said in its annual Article IV report on the world’s biggest economy.

    “Even with the unprecedented policy support being provided to the economy,” the US suffered a 37 percent collapse in GDP in the second quarter, and the economy is expected to contract by 6.6 percent in 2020, the fund said, stressing the “tremendous uncertainties” surrounding the outlook.

    “The principal risk, and one that is the most difficult to quantify, is that a resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases in the US could lead to renewed, partial shutdowns,” the report said.

    With case counts spiking in states like Florida, Georgia, Texas, and California, local authorities already have reimposed some restrictions

    And the IMF warns that the brunt of the economic impact is being borne by lower-income families, predominantly black and Hispanic, who are least able to weather the downturn.

    “There are already urgent warning signs that the depth of the economic contraction and the sectoral distribution of economic losses will lead to a systemic increase in poverty,” the IMF said.

    The Washington-based crisis lender said the recovery “will require a further round of fiscal measures in the coming months that boost demand, increase health preparedness, and support the most vulnerable.”

    “The US has fiscal space and it should be deployed quickly to hasten the recovery from the second-quarter contraction, permanently improve the social safety net, and facilitate a broader remaking of the US economy,” it said.

     

  • U.S. carries out first federal execution in 17 years

    U.S. carries out first federal execution in 17 years

    The U.S. government on Tuesday carried out the first federal execution in almost two decades, putting to death Daniel Lewis Lee, by lethal injection.

    Lee, a white supremacist, was involved in the killing of an Arkansas family as part of the 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest.

    He murdered an Alabama gun dealer, his wife and their 8-year-old daughter in 1996.

    Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, died by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, AP reported.

    “I didn’t do it,” Lee said just before he was executed. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I’m not a murderer. … You’re killing an innocent man.”

    Lee’s death Tuesday came a day after a federal judge halted the first federal execution in 17 years just hours before it was scheduled to take place.

    U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan stopped the scheduled execution, citing the potential pain inflicted by the lethal injection cocktail.

    The decision to move forward with the execution — the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 — drew scrutiny from civil rights groups.

    The relatives of Lee’s victims, also sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

  • BREAKING: UK bans 5G equipment from Huawei

    BREAKING: UK bans 5G equipment from Huawei

    The United Kingdom (UK) has banned telecommunications companies from buying 5G equipment from Huawei.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Oliver Dowden, UK’s Digital Secretary made the government’s decision known on Tuesday, while addressing the House of Commons.

    He also revealed the government’s decision mandating the telecoms companies to remove all the Chinese firm’s 5G kit from their networks by 2027.

    “To be clear, from the end of this year, telecoms operators must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei,” he said.

    Dowden, however, said the decision to strip Huawei of its role in the UK’s 5G network by 2027 “had not been easy” but said, “it is the right one”.

    He admitted the removal of Huawei from the UK’s 5G network will slow down the rollout of 5G by 2-3 years and cost hundreds of millions of pounds more.

    The development follows similar sanctions placed on Huawei in the United States. The US claims Huawei poses a national security threat.

    However, Huawei has denied the allegations.

  • US, India, Ghana write FG, demand extradition of 11 Nigerians over alleged fraud

    US, India, Ghana write FG, demand extradition of 11 Nigerians over alleged fraud

    Three countries, the United States of America, India and Ghana, have written respectively to the Federal Government requesting the extradition of 11 Nigerians, a report has revealed.

    The cases for which the Nigerians are wanted in the foreign countries include money laundering, obtaining under false pretences, fraud as well as drug-related offences.

    The report, titled ‘Ministerial Performance Report May 2019 – May 2020’ was prepared by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and presented to the Federal Executive Council.

    According to the report, the ministry’s Department of International Cooperation received eight extradition requests from US; three from Ghana and one from India between May 2019 and May 2020.

    The report said the department also received 62 requests for assistance in investigation under the Mutual Legal Assistance Nigeria signed with the named countries.

    The ministry noted that it had sent letters to INTERPOL to locate the persons named in some of the extradition requests, adding, however, that it rejected the only extradition request from India which involved a case of alleged money laundering concerning four Indians.

    “The request was denied by the HAGF (Honourable Attorney General of the Federation) because the offences allegedly committed by the suspects appeared to be political in nature.

    “Letter denying the request was sent to India,” the report read.

    The report noted that 42 Memoranda of Understanding and agreements between Nigeria and other countries were vetted during the period, while the ministry’s Department of Public Prosecutions received 1,120 terrorism-related cases in one year.

    It noted further that 500 of the 1,120 cases had been filed at the Federal High Court “while others have been recommended for de-radicalisation.”

    The ministry is projecting that by December, about 250 cases would have been concluded while all the cases would have been concluded by 2023.

    It added that over 3,392 general/financial matters-related cases were received from the Nigeria Police for prosecution at the magistrate courts due to the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

    It added, “We are happy to report that over 1,000 of these cases have been completed in the magistrate courts, with the defendants sentenced to various years in the correctional services.”

    While noting that more cases were being received daily, the ministry projected that about 2,500 cases would have been completed by December.

    The ministry added that it was currently prosecuting 1,359 cases of conspiracy/armed robbery and 10 cases of Securities and Exchange Commission-related offences.

    On hostage taking and kidnapping, the report indicated that the ministry had 10 cases in court while it was also handling seven cases of pipeline vandalism and 10 cases of electricity equipment vandalism.

    The ministry said it had 25 pending cases before the Court of Appeal and 10 cases before the Supreme Court.

  • BREAKING: Dubai Police hand over Ramoni ‘Hushpuppi’ to FBI in US

    BREAKING: Dubai Police hand over Ramoni ‘Hushpuppi’ to FBI in US

    Nigerian Instagram Celebrity Ramoni Igbalode aka Hushpuppi has been handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US, Dubai Police said on Thursday, Gulf News Dubai is reporting.

    According to a statement, Christopher Wray, Director of FBI, praised the role of Dubai Police in arresting Raymond Abbas (Hushpuppi) and Olalekan Jacob Ponle aka Woodbery and handing them over to the US.

    “Director of FBI expressed his thanks for the exceptional efforts (of Dubai Police) in fighting organized cyber crimes and arresting Hushpuppi and Woodbery,” Dubai Police said in the statement.

    According to Dubai Police, Hushpuppi and Woodberry wanted a series of crimes like money-laundering, fraud, hacking of websites and accounts, impersonation, banking fraud etc.

    Hushpuppi and Woodberry were arrested with 10 other suspects on allegations of fraud, involving huge money.

    Hushpuppi often posted pictures on Instagram with his luxury cars and private jet.

    Last month, Dubai Police said that the operation called “Fox Hunt 2”, revealed a hidden online fraud network that was committing crimes outside the UAE, including money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonating, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft.

    Police said the raid resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents pertaining to a well-planned international fraud worth Dh1.6 billion.

    According to Dubai Police, the gang used to hack corporate emails and send fake emails to corporate customers to change money transfers to the gang’s personal banking accounts.

    “They were designing and mimicking company and bank websites to steal credit card data and illegally obtain victims’ money before laundering the cash,” said Brigadier Jamal Al Jallaf Director of Criminal Investigation Department at Dubai Police.

    During the arrest, police found a huge amount of data on individuals, companies, bank accounts, credit cards as well as documents of money laundering, online fraud, and hacking accounts of victims outside the UAE.

    “The forged documents pertained to online fraud outside the country. The fraud was worth more than Dh1.6 billion. We seized more than Dh150 million in cash from them and confiscated 13 luxury cars worth Dh25 million,” Brig Al Jallaf said.

    Police confiscated 21 computers, 47 smartphones, 15 memory cards, five hard disks containing 119,580 fraud files as well as addresses of nearly two million victims.

  • Nigeria, US, South Africa citizens can’t enter Europe when airspace lockdown is lifted in July

    Nigeria, US, South Africa citizens can’t enter Europe when airspace lockdown is lifted in July

    The citizens of Nigeria, the United States, and South Africa won’t be able to join 54 world countries that will benefit from the reopening of the European Union external borders, which is scheduled beginning of July.

    According to sources of Euronews, EU officials failed to agree on a common list of the countries that would definitely be banned from entering the block upon the border reopening but managed to create a list of the countries with a better epidemiological situation, the citizens of which will be able to enter Europe by the end of next week.

    The same sources have also confirmed that citizens of Brazil, Qatar, the US and Russia will only be able to enter Europe at a later date when the epidemiological situation in these countries improves.

    Nationals of the following countries are listed in this draft list: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Australia, Bahamas, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mauritius, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau, Paraguay, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Serbia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia

    “The European Union has an internal process to determine from which countries it would be safe to accept travellers,” EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said last Thursday, adding that its decisions are “based on health criteria.”

    On June 11, the Commission presented its recommendation on the reopening of internal Schengen borders on June 15, so that Europeans can travel within the borderless area freely, just as they did pre-pandemic.

    At the same time, the Commission recommended that the Member States should start allowing third-country nationals to enter the EU starting from July 1, gradually and partially, based on the epidemiological situation in each third-country.

    The Commission recommended the following objective criteria for the Member States, when drafting the list of countries, the citizens of which may visit the EU after July 1: epidemiological situation and coronavirus response in that country, the ability to apply containment measures during travel, and whether or not that country has lifted travel restrictions towards the EU. Based on these conditions, the Commission recommended that the nationals of the six Western Balkan countries should be the first to benefit from the abolishment of travel restrictions, all of which are in the above list.

  • Reason why the FBI placed 6 Nigerians on most wanted list

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has declared another six Nigerians wanted in the United States (US) for involvement in business email compromise (BEC) schemes.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the FBI declared the six Nigerians wanted on Saturday, asking the public to provide information about them by submitting tips at a website US intelligence and security agency provided.

    The FBI said the activities of the suspected fraudsters, whose photos were made available on its website have resulted in over $6 ​million in losses.

    The agency gave the names of the six Nigerians as; Richard Izuchuckwu Uzuh, Alex Afolabi Ogunshakin, Felix Osilama Okpoh, Abiola Ayorinde Kayode, Nnamdi Orson Benson and Michael Olorunyomi.

    Explaining the crimes of the suspects, the FBI said the six Nigerians are “wanted for their alleged involvement in a Business Email Compromise (BEC) scheme that defrauded over 70 different businesses in the US resulting in combined losses of over $6,000,000 USD.”

    Uzuh and his co-conspirators, Ogunshakin, Okpoh, Kayode, and Benson, allegedly sent spoofed emails to thousands of businesses in the United States requesting fraudulent wire transfers.

    Uzuh allegedly worked with money launderers, romance scammers, and others involved in BEC schemes to launder the proceeds of their crimes through a complex network of witting and unwitting people in the United States and abroad.

    On October 18, 2016, Uzuh was indicted in the United States District Court, District of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, on charges of Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud. On October 19, 2016, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

    Ogunshakin allegedly provided bank accounts to Uzuh, and the other co-conspirators, that were used to receive fraudulent wire transfers. Ogunshakin allegedly also assisted in these schemes by sending spoofed emails to businesses used to solicit fraudulent wire transfers. Ogunshakin allegedly later conducted his own BEC schemes, learning from Uzuh and others.

    On August 21, 2019, Ogunshakin was indicted in the United States District Court, District of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud. On August 22, 2019, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

    Okpoh allegedly provided hundreds of bank accounts to Uzuh and other co-conspirators, that were used to receive fraudulent wire transfers. Bank accounts that Okpoh allegedly provided to Uzuh received fraudulent wire transfers from victim businesses totalling over $1,000,000 USD.

    On August 21, 2019, Okpoh was indicted in the United States District Court, District of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud. On August 22, 2019, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

    Kayode allegedly provided bank accounts to others that were used to receive fraudulent wire transfers. Kayode also allegedly conducted BEC and romance fraud schemes himself. On August 21, 2019, Kayode was indicted in the United States District Court, District of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. On August 22, 2019, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

    Benson allegedly provided bank accounts to Uzuh that were used to receive fraudulent wire transfers. Benson also allegedly conducted romance fraud and advanced fee fraud schemes himself. On August 21, 2019, Benson was indicted in the United States District Court, District of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud. On August 22, 2019, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

    On his part, Olorunyomi allegedly conducted romance fraud schemes often targeting vulnerable elders or widows. Olorunyomi allegedly defrauded several victims out of more than $1,000,000 USD.

    Additionally, the bank accounts of many of Olorunyomi’s alleged romance scam victims were provided to other co-conspirators to be used to receive fraudulent wire transfers from other fraud schemes.

    On November 13, 2019, Olorunyomi was indicted in the United States District Court, District of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Identity Theft, and Access Device Fraud. On November 14, 2019, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

    Coincidentally, this is coming barely days after the Dubai Police arrested Ramoni Igbalode better known as Hushpuppi on Instagram and 12 others.

    The police said Hushpuppi and his gang hacked corporate emails and sent fake messages to clients to redirect financial transfers and people’s bank details to their accounts, and thus committed fraud amounting to 1.6 billion dirham, N168 billion.

    All six Nigerians: Uzuh, Ogunshakin, Okpoh, Kayode, Benson, and Olorunyomi are believed to currently reside in Nigeria.